What a wonderful news item, I need a new box of Kleenex on my desk, these great
young men are truly Latter Day Saints, and I pray that they will never change
but their testimonies will continue to grow.

I loved this story. What an amazing group of young men. This past summer I had
the opportunity of hearing their coach, Quincy Lewis, speak to a group of young,
aspiring athletes. I was impressed by his stories that he shared about who these
young men are and how they conduct themselves off the court. It was very
impressive and inspirational.

By fortune, they are not the only ones. All over the valley, there are high
school sports teams that overcome challenges and trials and united in faith,
they move onward and forward. Take Viewmont High School class of 2008. Before
the 2007 school year started, their football captain and beloved fried passed
away. How the kids recovered from their loss, moved on, served missions, and now
walking to adult life getting married and having kids is a story to tell. And
they still honor and love their friend.

Thank you Mr. Toone. I love all of your articles but this one was excellent. I
continue to love stories about the young men and women athletes in our
communities who unselfishly drop what they are doing to serve. A testament to
the incredible youth we are blessed to have!

I enjoyed your article, Mr. Toone. I really appreciate the different examples of
fine young men that my son, who also plays high school basketball, has watched
for years. I am so grateful for their outstanding lives and service.

Meer - I can't believe it's been almost six years since I read about
the football captain from Viewmont High School. It's a sad but incredible
story. I would love to have an update on the boys (his teammates) who grew up,
and moved on from such a sad loss.

Article quote: "The instructor had asked for a volunteer to share a
spiritual message as part of an opening devotional. Shumway immediately raised
his hand. For almost 20 minutes, the young man talked to his peers about having
just finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time. He spoke about
kneeling by his bedside and praying to God to know if the book was true. He felt
nothing and continued to wrestle with the question late into the night. He
described how he was about to give up, but was then overcome by a powerful,
reassuring feeling of peace. It was overwhelming and he couldn't deny it,
Shumway told them. "Talon testified of the Book of Mormon and challenged the
other students in the class to find out for themselves," said Dwight
Durrant..."

And that's all it takes: a humble, sincere
prayer. When the heart is truly, truly willing to listen, and the answer is
needed, it comes.

Before I am criticized by someone saying "I
asked and the answer didn't come", I will instead merely point them to
this statement:

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, that's not my purpose,
but this article, in many ways, is too prideful. Making these boys out to be
celebrities is not the right thing to do. Our social network society is so much
about self aggrandizing already. These boys don't need more stories about
how great they are. It becomes a story of: they play basketball and now everyone
wants to be associated with them, and now look how smart they are, and now look
they are going on missions, and so on. Didn't Jesus say something like,
"see that you do these things in secret". We don't need more
celebrity missionaries, we need humble missionaries who know that they are
nothing without Christ.

Great article Mr. Toone. Most people will see your story for what it is,
inspiring. We know most of these boys and their parents and they are good kids
who are great athletes and even better people. Society needs more boys like
these kids. Are these kids any better than others in HS who don't play
sports but still do the right things, treat others well and go on missions, no.
But we live in a society, right or wrong that gravitates to sports and more
articles are written about HS kids who are athletes, nothing wrong with that.
These kids garnered a lot of attention and did a lot of good for Lone Peak and
the state of Utah with their accomplishments. Seems like they even sparked an
interest in kids, not of the LDS faith with their athletic accomplishments and
life style. When BYU's football and basketball teams travel to other
states and put on firesides, sometimes 200-300 folks turn out. Sorry but that
doesn't happen when a debate team or band travel. That's not
prideful, just rreality. Many people appreciate good, positive and uplifing
articles whether its about sports, people, school subjects or whatever.

Ville: You said it well. Yes, these young men are outstanding role models in
every way. However, so much attention is paid to sports athletes when other
outstanding youth who have excelled in music, art, drama, acadamia, and other
areas often go off the radar.

Not wanting to sound preachy about
this because I love BYU sports in all areas, but I would love to see some
balance in journalism.

As to the firesides of the BYU football team,
that was a Bronco Mendenhall decision. He had to "buck" the system in
the beginning with, "Nobody will ever come to a fireside on a Friday
night!" to where he has taken it today: standing room only events. He, for
one, has taken additional ridicule for stating that football isn't #1 to
him. He is building men of character to go forward to be good husbands, fathers,
and men of God.

Having said that, thanks for a great article and hope
many more are coming in all other areas.

I'm hearing all of you, and I think I understand you. Maybe I'm
altruistic, but fame seeking and fame seekers? Maybe your right, the best way to
spread the message of faith in Christ is through worldly success. The best
intentioned, good hearted people of the world will follow celebrity right to the
truth.

Its not the kids that are out seeking the attention, is it
the people around them that give them attention for doing great things in the
right way. This story wasn't "for" them. It is for us. I'd
bet that if you hung out with those kids on their missions, they rarely bring up
their championships, basketball, or any self serving details of their lives.

There's nothing prideful, bad or hypocritical about them, or this
story.

Sad thing is, it is so very different from what we often see
in pro sports and the media.

Rural Sports Fan: you say,"There's nothing prideful" This
whole story, and by the way there's a second part coming soon, is all about
pride. There would be no story if it didn't involve these players fame or
their notoriety for playing a sport.You make my point perfectly when you
say that "people around them give them attention". So it really is the
fault of "us" that we make their missions about basketball. Read the
article, the seminary teacher even calls one of the boys a "rock star".
Playing basketball at a high level has nothing to do with being a good
missionary.The best quote of the article was when Emery said he now knows
what is most important in life and its not sports. Just a thought.

Coach Lewis has done a fantastic job at Lone Peak. Good news is that coaches
all across our fine state are inspiring young men and women every day. Thanks
to all of them and the entire educational family, who do so much with so little!
emb

Cardston Cougars won two successive championships in Alberta. All of those young
men but one are LDS. All are now serving or waiting to report to the MTC. Jocks
have tons of impact on any high school. Great impact when the jocks are great
young men. One did a video clip for our Aaronic Priesthood fireside from his
mission in New Zealand. "Serving as a missionary is far more rewarding than
winning championships or scoring his buzzer-beater to advance to the
finals". I applaud ALL young men and young women who serve, jocks or not.
Our society has far too many less than admirable role models. Let's
applaud all great youth.

By their very nature, basketball, football, and other team sports are intended
to be public performances demonstrating superiority over an opponent. The
ambition is pride-seeking, and the successful accomplishment is pride-full.
Public attention is fundamental (unless the truly humble start to play all their
games in closed, empty gyms and keep the results private among the players and
coaches only).

For the rest of us, that is no problem. But for the
religious, they are forced to wrestle with profound paradox brought on by their
superstitious stories and muddled moralities.

Aubrey... Thanks for making my point. When you said, "The best quote of the
article was when Emery said he now knows what is most important in life and its
not sports. "

You are confusing pride with appreciation.
It's not prideful to admire excellence. If a kid wins a championship, and
is proud of that, but is humble in that he knows and respects the fact that his
team mates contributed, that it was just a limited part of existence, a game,
and he cares about his opponents ...is that somehow bad?You and others may
call it pride, and feel it's a negative thing. I and many others wish more
people would care enough about something, anything, to work that hard and see
the good that results...and we don't mean the trophies, we mean the people
and the joy and the lessons learned, both in the winning and the losing.

The Scientist...yeah, it's played in public...because people, parents,
friends all want to support the kids, the efforts, and because the teams need
money to pay for things.

Some of us enjoy the artistry of good
athletics. It's cheaper entertainment than going to a movie, and lasts
longer. It's not about pride for those of us that understand life.

But the real problem is, you are ignoring the other 90% of their time,
practicing in empty gyms, with no one cheering, sweating and hurting and
striving to get better. That's where the real lessons are learned.

It wasn't the basketball player who used the term "rock star".
Unfortunately, an adult used it. An unfortunate choice of words in my opinion.
Just think of some of the other people to whom that term has been applied
(ugh!).